Alice's Mirror
by Mikia
Summary: It's a really demented version of Alice In Wonderland. Alice Longbottom travels through her madness hoping to find a way out. She also encounters the most unusual characters. Like the book it's bizarre.


Authors Note: This story was inspired by two things. I was searching for one of my favorite Robert Frost poems and I stumbled upon this one. For some reason, it affected me greatly and I can't seem to get the yearning to write another story for Alice Longbottom to go away. I don't own Harry Potter or Alice in Wonderland. HP belongs to Rowling and Alice in Wonderland belongs to Louis Carroll. Enjoy!

Alice's Mirror

Mikia

_Lodged_  
  
_The rain to the wind said,  
'You push and I'll pelt.'  
They so smote the garden bed  
That the flowers actually knelt,  
And lay lodged--though not dead.  
I know how the flowers felt._

_-Robert Frost_

            Chapter one: 966-337-5263     

            "We don't know when she'll wake up."

            The three persons looked sadly at the still woman sleeping in her bed, heaving the air she lived on, not wanting to open her eyes. Neville clutched his mother's hand, hope slipping from his white knuckles as he watched his mother breath in the air and then let it out.

            In and out, in and out.

            His grandmother's face looked even graver then ever. Her wrinkled lines giving her more age and brow was furrowed out of stress. It wasn't good, none whatsoever. Alice Longbottom was sleeping, well she was sleeping ever since nine o'clock yesterday, and now the evening slipped away, and she would not awaken. No loud noises would stir her awake nor would she wake for a trip to the lavatory or to eat. 

            "Mum, please wake up," Neville whispered.

            She kept sleeping, dreaming of a house with one door, she kept sleeping, despite her son's urging, she kept sleeping and sleeping and sleeping….

            "_Mum."_

She finally reached it.  The door swung open revealing a blank house swallowed in the raven dark with only the light up the stairs to show her the way. The voice crying her name was going quieter. Echoing through the house like a creaky stair, she ignored it. She wasn't going to stop now. Not after she went through a never ending forest, her feet aching, her arms scratched, her lungs seeking air.

            _"Mum."_

It was barely a whisper now as she glanced down to the bottom of the stairs. No one was standing there. Shrugging it off again she walked away from the stairwell. The hallway was blank, like black paper, with only one door illuminated at the very end. Her feet lurched forward but something held her back. She tried moving again but still, her other foot stayed behind. Confused she looked down and what to meet her surprise was none other than a pure white rabbit.

            She blinked obviously taken back, not by the rabbit, but its behavior. Its eyes were wide, fear cast over its eyes, shaking. It was clutching her leg, almost humanlike, staring at the door as if a predator was about to jump out. It wouldn't look up at her, but its eyes were steadily fixed on the closed door. It shook more madly as the seconds moved on. 

            When it finally realized that it caught her attention, its large scared eyes looked up at her, its pink nose wiggling in fright.

            "Lady," it spoke, "lady must not go in there."

            Its voice trembled with every word, and she was beginning to feel its nails prick her bare leg.

"I-I don't understand." She said. The rabbit started to shake more violently.

            "Lady, take my warning. One must not enter there. It's folly to enter there, its madness!" it squeaked.

            "What do you mean?"

            Its nails dug deeper and its eyes grew more fearful. "Lady, curiosity will be the end for you this time."

            Her eyes were struck in pure confusion as the rabbit turned its attention back to the door. Its shaking started to slow and then finally, its grasp on her leg disappeared and she found it standing next to her gazing forward.

            "Yes, if possible-of course-" she heard it mutter. The rabbit quietly hopped forward craning its neck while sniffing the air. It shot its head back in disgust as if the very air was dirty. He turned around to face her, its nose wiggling in distaste.

            "Lady, is one sure to continue forward? The stench of madness still lingers," it warned narrowing its eyes showing no more fear.

            Her mouth opened to answer but she was cut off by a violent tremble in the floorboards. She shot her glance down to the floor which was creaking madly, shaking more violently than the rabbit did. If the floors were wooden she would have been sure the nails would have popped out. Her face looked up towards the rabbit, which was standing on its hind legs, ears up in alarm, nose sniffing the air again while its eyes darted in every direction. Then the shaking stopped. The rabbit rested back down, eyes not looking at her, but behind her.

            Alice stood frigid absolutely terrified not wanting to see what the rabbit was staring at. A booming hiss sent the hairs on her neck to prickle and to stand straight up. The fur on the rabbit shot up in fright and its eyes began to widen once again.

            "Lady-lady must not look back, the evil one is behind you," it whispered only loud enough for her to hear. Another hiss sent shivers up her back.

            "What is the-"

            The bottom of the stairs groaned in protest as the hissing filed up the stairway.

            The rabbit shook its head to keep her quiet and quietly hopped forward.

            "Lady, we have waited here too long. We have no other choice than to gaze upon the mirror," it muttered keeping its eyes directly behind her. 

            She gulped in some air and nodded her head in agreement. She didn't know what it meant, but right now, she didn't want to find out what was making that terrible hissing. Not to mention it was getting louder by the seconds.

            Her hair stood up on end when she realized that the stairs weren't creaking madly, but it was absolutely hushed. It was the fleeting feel of something creeping on a person that made her heart race in alarm. The rabbit obviously knew what was happening, for it started to step back, cowering against the shadows. Not even the darkness could've hidden its white brilliance as it continued to move away from whatever lurked behind Alice.

            "Lady…_run."_

            The words didn't seek in as fast as it did, but when it did, she noticed the rabbit was pelting for the door. Her feet stumbled at first as she started to run, but the door seemed to run away from her. The distance wouldn't change but she had to try. The hissing had started again but the hot breath of whatever was making it was colliding with Alice. She kept running but the distance wouldn't change. She was starting to smell the strong stench of something rotting. Her legs were growing heavy to the point where it was hard to even lift them up. No, but she couldn't stop. Raising her right leg, she felt the toes of it slide across the floor. She couldn't stop it from happening.

            Trip, stumble, and fall.

            Her hands reached out in front of her, grasping the thin air as she searched for something to stop her from falling. Yet, she was falling further than she was supposed to be. 

            Her eyes widened in shock when the realization that the floor had completely disappeared had hit her. Her legs were flopping downwards, down the black abyss, and she was going to join it as well. Her eyes pressed shut, hoping that she might find out it was just some sort of illusion, until her hand grasped something. Her eyes popped open and looked up to see what she held.

            The door was standing tall like a tower, floating amongst the darkness, and uncaring that the floor was completely gone. Her other hand shot up to grasp the doorknob as well, her feet dangling in the darkness.

            The knob started to shake and the door jerked open. Alice shrieked as the door flung backwards, hands clutching the doorknob even more tightly.

            The white rabbit zoomed its head from side to side before assuring its self that the coast was clear. Snapping its fingers, Alice felt weightless and her hands fell away from the doorknob. Like a feather she floated towards the open doorway where the white rabbit stood. Her feet gently met the floor in the room and the feeling of flying left her. She winced as the door shut loudly behind her closing her in the room that smelled oddly of chipped wood. She craned her neck from side to side capturing the room within her eyes. Boxes were piled high towards the ceiling, dusty, weary from age. The floor was scatted with trinkets and dust, the unpolished hard wood floor groaning with age. Her eye finally caught where the rabbit was, who was standing in front what looked like a mirror.

            She walked across the room, stumbling here and there over the tiny trinkets until she stood side by side with the concerned rabbit. She took a long look at the mirror studying every detail. The border was chipped and scraped, but was polished neatly in a fine cherry wood. Across the top, scraped in childish handwriting was the numbers 966-337-5263. Then she stared at the face. 

            She saw herself; at least what she thought was herself. Her face was plump, eyes were happy, and her hair was neatly combed in a brown radiance. The face was smiling and was wearing the same nightgown. The legs and arms were not scratched, but smooth and uncut. No blemish, no scrapes, but was full of youth.

            Alice touched her face realizing what she saw was folly. She felt the wrinkles in her cheeks and brow. She felt the bags under her eyes from deprived sleep, and plucking a strand of her hair she saw a wispy white string aged from stress. Her feet were sore from running, her legs and arms scraped from the forest. The only thing that was the same was her nightgown but nothing else. To make things more peculiar she looked down towards the rabbits' reflection and that's where she was stunned.

            It was not a rabbit in the reflection but something that she hadn't seen for years. Wrapped in a furry white sweater was not a rabbit, but an elf. A house elf to be more exact. The ears were flopped its eyes were pleading as he glanced up at Alice.

            "What, what is this?" Alice muttered looking down at the rabbit.

            "It's a mirror that shows what the wizarding world knows," it answered.

            She opened her mouth to ask another question but it caught on.

            "You see Lady, the rest of the world sees what they want to see, not comparing to what we see. Outside, Muggles would only see you as a crazy old woman, but our world sees you as a hero. For me they want to believe they only saw a white rabbit, but to our world a house-elf is considered normal. Does one understand?" it explained.

            She considered this and nodded. So the mirror showed what her world saw, a not what others see. Ready to question about the numbers the rabbit spoke up.

            "It's no longer safe beyond the door Lady, we must journey inside," it said calmly.

            "Inside?"

            "Evil is abroad inside but Dobby thinks you are capable of handling it."

            With that he reached up his front paw and caught the Alice by the nightgown, sinking its nails to grasp it and led her forward. Alice saw her youthful self come forward closer to her until she felt a cold wash pour all around her. She shivered as it hit her insides pouring down the back of her gown. Then it stopped. Glancing around she saw she was in a forest type place. Looking down she saw that the rabbit had indeed become a house elf. Taking this into consideration she lifted her hands to her face. Her face was smooth, the bags under her eyes gone. She saw her brown hair over her shoulders and her arms were unscathed. A smile lifted her face to realize she was her old self again and she bobbed her head to look back down at Dobby.

            "This, this is incredible!" she piped clasping her fingers together feeling the smoothness.

            Dobby smiled back at her his ears wiggling in agreement.

            "Yes, yes, but we must continue forward Lady, or else we'll never reach the other side," he replied.

            She nodded still amazed at her extreme change and glanced down the pathway. There was a fork in the road, while a signpost pointed in every direction. Up down, diagonal, forward, backward, and side to side; in any direction God himself could think of, and what didn't help was that each sign was blank. It was purely stupid for there were only two paths to travel on. She blinked back amazed of this nonsense and looked down to question Dobby.

            He sighed and shook his head. "Lady, I think we're in trouble."

            Alice sighed and nodded her head in agreement. It was going absolutely no where so far and help wasn't even in sight.

            "Lady, we must separate here. If we both take the wrong path we will most likely end up here. If we find the right path, our only way is to keep going. I have a feeling we're to meet again," he sadly said. 

            Alice was about to say no, but what the elf said made sense. Getting over that small pinch of fright of walking through a dark forest by herself, she mustered up her courage and nodded in agreement. Dobby left her side and started for the left path while she headed towards the right. When they were about to separate, he bowed low enough that his nose touched the ground.

            "Until we meet again Lady," he said quietly.

            Alice nodded. "Dobby, you don't have to call me Lady."

            He raised his head in question.

            "Just call me Alice," she smiled and headed down the path.

            "Lad- Alice! One must wait! Dobby forgot something!" she heard him squeak. 

            Turning around she saw him bound up towards her clutching something in his arm. He stopped in front of her holding up the object in front of him. Alice blinked and carefully took it from his outstretched arms, turned it over, and looked at it. It was the mirror, only shrunken for easy usage. The numbers however had disappeared but carven words etched the top of the frame: '_AMGINE'. Yet the mirror was no longer one sided, it had two sides._

            "Dobby, what-" she started but stop when she realized that the elf had disappeared. Gulping in another intake of air she turned her heel and started to walk down the leave strewn path. 

            Further and further she went, walking along avoiding the constant feeling of being watched. Her feet padded the dusty ground and her arms clutched the mirror to her chest. Biting her lower lip, she ignored the breeze of odd sounds that came from the forest around her. Darting her eyes from side to side, the paranoia was going larger inside her mind. Once or twice she saw odd creatures cross her path, for instance she at one point ran into a large invisible oddity that crossed her path. She wasn't able to hold up the mirror in time, for whatever it was, had disappeared. She also thought she saw a white creature run through the side of the forest. Yet when it was there no longer, she dismissed it as an illusion. The place was mad enough so far that seeing an illusion to her was starting to appear normal.

            Then her walking had stopped. She had come across another fork in the road, or was it the same? It had the same idiotic sign from the first part in the path, but yet the surroundings were different. Hoping the mirror might give some clue, she held it up but it was the same through the mirror. So it was nonsense both in the regular world and hers. Growling with frustration, she plopped herself down onto one of the nearby boulders and huffed in annoyance. Setting the mirror down she kept in her temper clutching the sides of her nightgown from keeping herself from screaming. 

            A soft _meow brought her out of her angry state, lifting her eyes from her knees to what was an innocent looking tabby cat perched on top of the sign of stupidity. Probably the only normal thing Alice had so far encountered, she picked up the mirror and walked towards the sign. The cat mewed again turning its head from side to side, its ears flicking in question. Alice smiled at the innocent cat that was so curious. Yet the smile faded from her lips when she noticed that the cat was starting to grin._

            Stepping back, she saw the smile grow wider and wider until full teeth were glittering at her. Surely Alice had witness many odd and demented things in her world, but a smiling cat was starting to prove, well odd. Not to mention the grin of the cat was oddly creepy and it made the small hairs on her arm prickle in fright.

            Remembering her mirror, she grasped it by each side of the frame and held it up so the cat was in full form of it. Yet, what she saw was not a tabby cat, but a smirking, stern faced woman sitting cross-legged on the sign. She was dressed in robes of dark green, and her hat perched on the side of her head. Her hands were clasped over her kneecap as she bore down at Alice.

            "Who-who are you?" Alice stammered bringing the mirror back down. The cat's grin grew wider.

            "Mrs. Longbottom; you stun me with your memory. Yet I think you would find being here amongst mad creatures would fit you. Seeing you're current state that is," it spoke sternly.

            "I had enough of that at St. Mungo's, the last thing I want is to be amongst mad people again," Alice puffed up.

            "Well, I'm afraid you're too late Mrs. Longbottom," the cat spoke," Everything here is mad by Muggle perspective. I'm mad. You're mad."

            "How do you know I'm mad?" Alice hissed.

            "It's obvious," it said, "Or else you wouldn't have come here."

            Not knowing what to say to say in response, the cat shook its head chuckling to itself.

            "Don't fret Mrs. Longbottom. I am here to help you," it chirped grinning more broadly at her.

            "How can you help me?"

            "You see Mrs. Longbottom, I am the Animagus Cat; I know every twig, howl, and stone of the Forbidden Forest. You seek the Queen of A's I shall show you the way," the cat before jumping down onto the ground.

            "Who's the-"

            "Please Mrs. Longbottom, we don't have all day," the cat purred walking down the dusty trail on the left.

            Sighing in surrender, Alice clutched the mirror as she followed. 

            _'Maybe I was mad coming here.'_

Authors Note: 966-337-5263 was my deranged way of spelling "Wonderland" according to the numbers on the telephone. I didn't want to be obvious, and it was a pure coincidence it came out in the form of a telephone number. Sorry if it was confusing, but I was racking my brain for ideas, then the phone rang ^_^. So that'll clear things up. Also, I inserted a quote from the book; it was that whole thing about Alice saying she wasn't mad etc etc. That wasn't mine.


End file.
